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On Thursday, May 29, Amtrak Frederick Douglass Tunnel Program Leadership joined Baltimore City Councilman John T. Bullock, community members from the Greater Rosemont and Midtown Edmondson neighborhoods, and several media outlets to kick off a new Historic Salvage Program at the historic Atlas Building on Edmondson Avenue.
Councilman Bullock, West Baltimore community members, and other partners join the Frederick Douglass Tunnel Program team to cut the ceremonial ribbon
Community members celebrate the program launch with the Frederick Douglass Tunnel team
Program staff shared remarks about the history of the historic Atlas Building and highlighted Amtrak’s commitment to meaningful partnership with the surrounding neighborhoods. Staff also led guided walkthroughs of the building where community members received a first-hand look at the Salvage Program.
As part of the Frederick Douglass Tunnel Program, Amtrak has acquired several properties to accommodate the construction of the new tunnel. As one of the measures to mitigate the adverse effects to historic properties caused by the Program, Amtrak secured, stored, and has made available historic architectural materials salvaged from historic buildings that have been demolished as part of this Program.
The salvaged materials are available free of charge to residents of the Greater Rosemont and Midtown Edmondson Historic Districts, the same historic neighborhoods that these materials were collected from. The salvage contractor also collected non-historic materials in good condition to reduce the amount of material waste; these are also available to residents. Materials salvaged include but are not limited to:
The Historic Salvage Program will be operational for an approximately one-year period, following its official start date on June 2, 2025. Residents of the Greater Rosemont and Midtown Edmondson Historic Districts may obtain these materials on a first-come, first-served basis. Open pickup hours are Monday – Wednesday (9am – 3pm) and Saturdays (by appointment only). Entrance for the salvage program is at the rear of the historic Atlas building, using Harlem Avenue to access the site.
The historic Atlas Building at 2126 Edmondson Avenue will house the Historic Salvage Program for the duration of its operation. Built in 1925 as the Atlas Safe Deposit and Storage Company Building, the building provided household storage services to the people of West Baltimore for over 50 years. The Atlas Building emerged as part of a nationwide desire to have warehouses for this specific purpose in the early twentieth century. The Atlas Building provided fireproof construction, simple architectural lines to reflect the security and strength of the building, innovative structural architecture for effective weight distribution of the building and its contents (i.e. the “mushroom” columns), a secure vault for silver goods, mezzanine space for the display of stored pianos, close proximity to both residential and business districts, and access to a rail line. All features were typical of household warehouse construction at the time.
The historic Atlas building along Edmondson Ave.
Atlas Building interior mushroom columns
Mezzanine for piano storage
The architectural firm responsible for the Atlas Building design, Moores & Dunford, Inc., was a leading warehouse architectural firm in North America. Moores & Dunford designed over 200 warehouses of this type across the United States and Canada.
